Stowage compartment for vehicle chairs



Sept. 10, 1957 s. B. HENDRICKSON STOWAGE COMPARTMENT FOR VEHICLE cumsFiled Jan. 19, 1955 2 She'ets-Sheet 1 INVENTbR. SEVERIN B. HENDRICKSQNBY M. gb nvy, I

' ATTOR N EYS P 1957 I s. B. HENDRICKSON, 2,805,705

STOWAGE COMPARTMENT FOR VEHICLE CHAIRS Filed Jan. 19, 1955 2Sheets-Sheet 2 I INVENTOR. SEVERIN B. HENDRICKSON ATTORN EYS UnitedStates Patent STOWAGE COMPARTMENT FOR VEHICLE CHAIRS Severin B.Hendrickson, Templeton, Mass., assignor to Heywood-Wakefield Company,Gardner, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application January 19,1955, Serial No. 482,743

11 Claims. (Cl. 155-103) This invention relates to vehicle chairs andmore particularly to stowage compartments for reversible vehicle chairs.

Conventional overhead luggage or parcel racks in public vehicles havenumerous drawbacks. In the first place, parcels and the like are apt todrop from them onto chair occupants. Secondly, in order to provide amplehead room, they are positioned so far above the floor of the car thatluggage can be lifted onto them only with great difliculty. Thirdly,overhead racks are unsightly. And fourthly, their location isinconsistent with the modern trend of lowering the center of gravity ofvehicle cars for stability purposes.

It is not a simple matter, however, to locate luggage or parcel rackselsewhere in the car. Nearly all railroad car seats are reversible andthe reversing mechanism is usually located under the seat. Thus theremay not be sufficient room under the seat for a rack or compartment, andany design for such a compartment under the seat must take into accountthe problem of avoiding interference with the reversing mechanism.Another problem is that of foot space. Still another problem is that ofsecurity. Access to a compartment hidden beneath the seat should only beavailable to one person in order to avoid accidental mingling of parcelsbelonging to different people. In practice, there has, hitherto, been noadequate solution to these latter problems and the result is that theancient overhead racks still continue in use.

Therefore, it is an object of my invention to provide an underslung rackfor reversible vehicle chairs and to limit the access to each rack tothe occupants of one chair. Another object of my invention is to providesuch an underslung rack without interferring with the reversingmechanism of the chair and without taking up essential foot room underthe chair.

In the accomplishment of these and other objects of my invention in apreferred embodiment thereof, I employ a reversible chair known in theindustry as a flop-over type chair. In this type chair, reversal isaccomplished by flopping the back rest over and simultaneously movingthe seat from a rearward sloping position in one direction to a rearwardsloping position in the opposite direction. In my invention, I provide aluggage or parcel compartment under such a chair and I provide front andrear doors to this compartment. The doors are pivotally mounted to swingdownwardly and their motion is governed through a linkage arrangement bythe reversing mechanism of the seat and back rest. Thus when the chairis adapted for seating in one direction, the compartment door to therear thereof is opened and the compartment may be used only by theoccupants of the seat to the rear.

It is a feature of my invention that the luggage compartment does nottake up essential foot room either of the occupant of the chair in whichit is located or of the chair next to the rear. Another feature of myinvention is that instead of interfering with the reversing mechanism ofthe chair, the compartment and doors of my ice invention actually relyupon the said reversing mechanism accomplishing the opening and closingaction.

These and other objects and features of this invention, along withincident advantages, will be better understood and appreciated from thefollowing description of one embodiment thereof, selected for purposesof illustration, and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a view in side elevation of a railroad chair constructed inaccordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view in cross section of one of the storagecompartment doors and its operating mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a view in cross section along sight lines 33 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a view in cross section along sight lines 4-4 of Fig. 2

The preferred embodiment of my invention herein shown includes in itsgeneral organization, a reversible chair of the flop-over type and astowage compartment underneath the seat of the chair. Since themechanism of both sides of the chair are exact duplicates of each other,and since the operative elements of my invention may be understood froma detailed description of only one side, this description wil be limitedto the details of one side of the chair.

The chair includes a base frame indicated generally at 10, a seatcushion 22 mounted Within the frame and a back rest 30 connected to theframe. The base frame 10 is generally tubular in construction and has,as essential elements, a pair of upright side standards 11 each of whichhas an arm rest 20 on the top portion thereof. The side standards 11 arejoined across the chair by means of intermediate cross braces 12 and 14and by foot rails 18. The seat 22 is of conventional upholsteredconstruction and is mounted on a base plate 24 which is in turnsupported by wedges 26 and 28 attached to the base plate 24 on theunderside thereof. The support wedges 26 and 28 are arranged and spacedunder the seat 22 so that when it is placed within the base frame 10,the support wedges 26 and 28 rest on the cross braces 12 and 14respectively. Thus the seat 22 may slide forwards and backwards relativeto the chair, and in doing so, the wedges 26 and 28 carry the seat froma position of incline in one direction to a position of incline in theother direction.

The back rest 30 is connected to the frame 10 by crossed link arms 34and 36. The link arms 34 and 36 are pivotally connected to the sidestandard 11 by pivots 42 and 48 respectively, and the said pivots 42 and48 are on the same level and are spaced symmetrically to either side ofthe transverse center line of the chair. At their other ends the linkarms 34 and 36 are pivotally connected to a side plate 32 mounted on theback rest 30, and the said arms 34 and 36 are connected to the saidplate 32 by pivots 40 and 46 respectively. The pivots 4-0 and 46 arespaced symmetrically to either side of the transverse center line of theback rest 30, and lie in the plane of the back rest. It will be seen,therefore, that the reversing operation of the chair is carried out byflopping the back rest 36 over from an extreme position on one side tothe extreme position on the other side with the top of the back rest inone position becoming the bottom of the back rest in the other position.

In order to shift the seat 22 from a rearwardly sloping position in onedirection to a rearwardly sloping position in the other direction duringthe reversing operation, a lower portion of the link arm 36 below thepivot 48 is provided with a short,v inwardly extending pin 52. The pin52 fits into a slot 54 which is carried by a plate 59 mounted on thebase plate 24 of the seat 22. Thus when the link arm 36 passes from theextreme position on one side to the extreme position on the other side,the pin 52,

. link 64 therein.

midportion 86 is retained in the sleeve 84 by means of a operating inthe slot 54, pushes the seat forward or backward as the case may be andin doing so the wedge supports 26 and 28 cause the seat to assume a newsloping angle.

For the purpose of supportingparcels and the like underneath the seat, Iinstall a horizontal rack 16 and mount the same internally of the baseframe on the same lever as the foot rails 18. In order to form acompartment under the seat and to close off the compartment alternatelyfrom either end depending upon the direction of the chair, I provide apair of doors under the chair together with means for, raising andlowering these doors into and out of a closed position adjacent to therack 16. Thus the compartment is formed with the rack 16 serving as abottom wall, the doors serving as end walls, the base frame 10 providingside walls either by means of a tubular framework as is shown in Fig. l,or by other forms of conventional vehicle car chair side elements.Furthermore in many vehicle car chairs, the inner side of thecompartment is formed by the side wall of the vehicle, while the side ofthe compartment adjacent to the aisle is formed by the elements of theseat frame. The underside of the seat 22 serves as a top wall to thesaid compartment.

The detailed mechanisms and mode of operation of these doors is the samefor each door and, therefore, a detailed description of only one of themwill sufiice. Referring to Fig. 2, wherein only one such door-operatingmechanism is shown, a door 62 will be seen in the lefthand side of thefigure, and consists in an essentially flat metal plate connected to thecross brace 12 by means of a hinge 60. The door 62 may be swung upwardlyfrom a depending position to a substantially horizontal position bymeans of an operating link 64 which is pivotally connected through a pin68 to a connection 66 mounted on the underside of the base plate 24 ofthe seat 22. At itsother end the link 64 is pivotally connected to thedoor 62 in such a way that the door 62 may be brought to the horizontalposition roughly parallel to the link 64 while still maintaining a goodleverage of operation, and to accomplish this, link 64 is formed with anextension plate 70. The plate 70 projects below the level of the link 64and passes through a slot 72 in the plate 62. The plate 70 is thenpivotally connected by means of a pin76 to lateral support members 74which are in turn welded to the door 62. The members 74 extendsubstantially below the plane of the door 62 when the door 62 is in thehorizontal position, and in this way, they position the lever armsubtended between the hinge 60 and the pin 76 in a plane that divergesfrom the plane of the door 62 to provide a good closing leveragearrangement.

In order to adjust the open and closed positions of the door 62, themidportion of the link 64, indicated at 86, is tubular in form and istapped internally to receive a threaded member 80. The threaded member80 is in turn held in a tubular extension 78 of the link 64 by means ofa set screw 82. Thus turning the threaded member 80 effectivelylengthens or shortens the link 64 and by doing so changes the variouspositions of the door 62. Also in order to prevent accidental damage tothe door 62 or to parcels and the like from swinging the door 62downwardly to the closed position, I provide a sleeve 84 and slidablymount the midportion;86 of the The sleeve 84 is slotted at 90 and thepin 88 secured to the midportion 86 and lying in the slot 90. In ordernormally to maintain the link 64 at its full operating length, but alsoto permit it to shorten if the door 62 is subjected to unusual pressure,a compression spring 92 is placed in the sleeve 84 and bears against theinner end of the midportion 86 of the link 64. In order to provide aready means for detaching the link 64 from the connection 66, the pin 68is supportedby a U- shaped bracket secured to the underside of plate 24adjacent to the connection 66, and the pin 68 may be disengaged from theconnection 66 by means of a knob 98 secured to one end thereof. Thedisengaging operation, however, is resisted by a compression spring 96which normally bears against a washer 97, which in turn bears against ashoulder of the pin 68, and in this fashion the spring 96 normally urgesthe pin 68 into its fully engaged position with the connection 66.

From Figs. 1 and 2 it willbe seen that the link 64 controls the positionof the door 62 through the change of position of the seat 22 during theback rest reversing operation. When the back rest 30 is flopped over toa reversed position, the seat 22 shifts as was previously explained.During this shift, the link 64 is carried to a new position through itsconnection to the bottom of the support plate 24 and since the crossbrace 12 is fixed in position relative to the seat 22 and the door 62 ispivoted to the cross brace12, the motion of the link 64 causes the door62 either to open or close depending on which position the seat 22takes. Referring particularly to Fig. 1, the seat 22 is shown in theextreme position of motion to the left-hand side of the figure. When theseat 22 is in this position, the link 64 is likewise in its extremeposition of motion to the left and the door 62 is in the dependingposition closing ofi the compartment under the chair to access from thefront of the chair. Access to the compartment under the chair, however,is open to the rear because the door 102 which is adjacent to that sideof the chair is pulled upward to the horizontal position by the actionof link 100 which is identical in its construction and operation withthe link 64. Thus it will be seen that when the chair is in itsforwardly projected position, the occupant of the chair next to the rear(facing in the same direction) will have access to the compartmentunderneath the chair both for the purpose of placing parcels, baggageand the like therein and for the purpose of increasing foot room ifdesired.

In the event that an attempt is made to reverse the position of the backrest 30 while parcels remain in the compartment below the chair, nodamage will be effected because the spring within the sleeve 84 willyield and the door 62 or 102, as the case may be, will not close underthe extreme leverage that otherwise might crush theparcels or bend thedoors.

Numerous minor variations of this preferred embodiment of myinventionwill now be apparent to those skilled in the art. For instance, areversible back rest of the type which traverses the seat withoutinverting may be employed equally as well as the flop-over typedescribed specifically herein. Therefore, it is not my intention toconfine the invention to the precise form herein shown, but rather tolimit it in terms of the appended claims.

Having thus described and disclosed a preferred embodiment of myinvention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent ofthe, United States is:

1. A reversible vehicle car chair and stowage compartment combinationcomprising, a chair having a base frame and a seat and a back restmounted thereon, support means for said back rest on said base frameadapted to permit reversal of position of said back rest from a firstposition facing in one direction relative to the direction of said carto a second position facing in the other direction relative to said car,a compartment within the frame below said seat and being accessible fromeither direction, doors swingably mounted on said base frame forlimiting the access to said compartment, and door actuating mechanismoperatively associated with said back rest support means for controllingthe swinging motion of said doors to provide access to said compartmentfor one direction when said back rest is in said first position and fromthe other direction when said back rest is in said second position.

2 The reversible vehicle car chair and stowage compartment combinationdefined in claim 1 further characterized by said door operatingmechanism controlling said doors to provide access to said compartmentonly from the end of said chair opposite to the direction in which saidback rest faces when in said first and second positions.

3. A reversible vehicle car chair and compartment combination comprisinga support frame having front and back horizontal cross braces, a seatsupported on the said braces, a back rest, means movably attaching theback rest to the frame permitting the back rest to face either the frontor the back relative to said car, a compartmentwithin the frame belowthe braces, a pair of doors pivotally mounted one on the front brace andthe other on the rear brace for limiting access to the compartment fromthe front and back thereof, and door operating mechanism responsive tomovement of the back rest for raising one of the doors and lowering theother of the doors whereby to provide access to said compartroom onlyfrom one direction at a time.

4. The reversible vehicle car chair and compartment combination definedin claim 3 further characterized by said door operating mechanismconstructed and arranged to open the door at the rear of the chair whenthe back rest is moved to face front and vice versa.

5. A reversible chair comprising a frame having a pair of parallelspaced apart horizontal supports, a seat movably carried by thesupports, a back rest connected to the frame movable to either side ofsaid seat, means responsive to movement of the back rest to one side ofthe seat for upwardly tilting the other side of the seat, a rack carriedby the frame below the seat, doors pivotally mounted on said supportsbelow the front and rear sides of the seat for opening and closing thespace defined by the seat and rack, and means responsive to movement ofthe back rest to one side of the seat for opening the door below thatside of the seat and closing the door on the other side of the seat.

6. A reversible chair comprising a frame having a pair of parallelspaced apart horizontal supports, a seat disposed over the supports, apair of opposed wedges diminishing outwardly in thickness connected tothe seat and each engaging one of the supports, a back rest connected tothe frame movable to the front or rear side of the seat for changing thedirection of the chair, means responsive to movement of the back rest inone direction for moving the seat in the other direction thereby causingone of the wedges to ride up on one support while the other wedge movesoff the other support, doors mounted below the seat on each front andrear side of the frame on said support each pivotally movable betweensubstantially horizontal and vertical position, and actuating meansconnected to the seat and to each of the doors responsive to movement ofthe seat to one front and rear side of the frame for moving the door onthat side of the frame to its substantially vertical position and theother door to its substantially horizontal position.

7. A reversible chair comprising a frame, a movable seat carried by theframe, a compartment within the frame below said seat, doors pivotallymounted on said frame beneath the seat for opening and closing saidcompartment, and means responsive to movement of the seat for closingone of said doors and simultaneously opening another of said doors.

8. A reversible chair comprising a frame, a movable seat carried by theframe and a compartment within the frame below said seat, a doorpivotally mounted on said frame disposed below each end of the seatmovable between a substantially horizontal and a substantially verticalposition, said doors cooperating with said seat to open and close saidcompartment, and levers connected between each of the doors and the seatresponsive to motion of the seat for opening one of the doors andsimultaneously closing the other said door.

9. A reversible chair comprising a frame, a seat supported on said framefor forward and backward motion, Wedges carried by the seat engaging theframe for lifting the forward portion of the seat with forward motion ofthe seat and lifting the back portion of the seat with backward motionof the seat, a rack beneath the seat carried by the frame defining withthe seat and sides of the frame a stowage compartment, front and reardoors mounted on the frame for opening and closing the compartment, alink pivotally connected to the forward portion of the seat and the reardoor, and a second link pivotally connected to the rear portion of theseat and the front door, said links being actuated in response toforward movement of the seat to move the front door to its closedposition and the rear door to its open position, and vice versa.

10. A reversible chair comprising a frame having front and rearhorizontal supports, a movable seat, Wedges carried by the seat engagingthe horizontal supports for lifting the front of the seat when it ismoved in the forward direction and for lifting the rear of the seat whenit is moved in a rearward direction, a luggage rack beneath the seat andcarried by the frame and defining a compartment between itself and saidseat and the sides of the frame, doors pivotally supported by the frontand rear horizontal supports each being movable to a substantiallyvertical position to close said compartment and to a substantiallyhorizontal position to open said compartment, and links pivotallyconnected to the front and back portion of the seat, each saidlinkpivotally engaging one said door, said links being actuated inresponse to forward motion of the seat to move the front door to itssubstantially vertical position and the rear door to its substantiallyhorizontal position, and said links being actuated in response torearward motion of the seat member to reverse the position of the frontand rear doors.

11. A reversible chair as defined in claim 10 further characterized by aflop-over back rest secured to the frame, means responsive to motion ofthe back rest to the rear position for moving the seat forwardly, andmeans responsive to motion of the back rest to the forward position formoving the seat rearwardly.

Richardson June 16, 1874 Hale Mar. 15, 1887

